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Article Excerpt
The authors investigated whether undergraduates' scores on the Verbal and Quantitative tests of the Graduate Record Examinations and their undergraduate grade point average can be used to predict knowledge, personal development, and skills of graduates of counseling programs. Multiple regression analysis produced significant models predicting total Skilled Counselor Scale (S. Urbani et al., 2002) scores and total Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (Center for Credentialing and Education, 2005) scores. No significant prediction model was found for the Counselor Skills and Personal Development Rating Form (M. P. Wilbur, 1991) Personal Factors scores. It is concluded that educators should recognize the limitations of these admission criteria and assign a weight to them on the basis of what they can and cannot predict.
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Counselor educators have long been concerned with how to select candidates for their programs (Markert & Monke, 1990). Academic measures such as test scores (e.g., Graduate Record Examinations [GRE]) and grade point averages [GPA]) are often used in admission decisions. Critics have suggested that such measures may not be useful in predicting counseling performance (Markert & Monke, 1990).
Counselor educators must evaluate not only applicants' academic aptitude but their professional and personal development as well (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP], 2001; Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, 1993; Bradey & Post, 1991; Frame & Stevens-Smith, 1995; Hensley, Smith, & Thompson, 2003; Kerl, Garcia, McCullough, & Maxwell, 2002; Lumadue & Duffey, 1999; Wheeler, 2000). More specifically, Lumadue and Duffey suggested that counselor educators must act as gatekeepers and use behavior-specific student evaluation instruments.
Academics in Admission Criteria
Although the American Counseling Association's (ACA) Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice (1995; hereinafter called the Code of Ethics) includes evaluation of personal and professional development, research has indicated that academic progress continues to receive the most attention in admission decisions for many counseling programs. According to Pope and Kline (1999), most counselor education programs use undergraduate GPAs and GRE scores as important variables in their admission criteria. Hollis and Dodson (2000) surveyed counselor education programs in the United States. Approximately 50% of these programs (204 of 428) offered a community counseling graduate degree. Of these community counseling programs, approximately two thirds were found to require a minimum GPA, and one third required minimum GRE or Miller Analogy Test scores.
Abedi (1991) studied undergraduate GPA and found it to be a poor predictor of graduate academic performance. Undergraduate GPA has also been combined with GRE Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical measures (McKee, Mallory, & Campbell, 2001) to determine their relation to graduate GPA of criminal justice students. The researchers found that 40% of the variability in graduate GPA was accounted for by undergraduate GPA and GRE scores, although undergraduate GPA was the weakest contributor to the model.
Numerous studies have examined the power of GRE scores in predicting graduate school performance. These studies have produced mixed results. One meta-analysis (Morrison & Morrison, 1995) examined studies correlating GRE Verbal and Quantitative scores to graduate GPA. The results showed that only 6% of the variability in graduate GPA was accounted for by GRE scores. Furthermore, Sampson and Boyer (2001) suggested that GRE scores may be of even less predictive value when used with minorities and nontraditional female graduate students.
A more recent meta-analysis (Kuncel, Hezlett, & Ones, 2001) found moderate correlations between GRE scores and outcomes such as graduate GPA, faculty appraisals, and scores on comprehensive examinations. The authors recognized that "the results of this half century of research have been inconsistent and controversial" (p. 163).
Morrow (1993) found that GRE Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical scores were significantly correlated with graduate GPA. The GRE Analytical scores were the best predictors of graduate GPA, whereas no correlation was found between GRE Verbal or Quantitative scores and faculty ratings of overall counseling performance; however, the participants' GRE Analytical scores were correlated with faculty ratings. Thus, it appears that standardized test data such as Verbal and Quantitative GRE scores may be useful for predicting graduate academic performance but may be less useful for predicting students' counseling performance.
Systematic evaluation of academic, personal, and professional development throughout the program is required by CACREP (2001). Therefore, these three components were examined in this study.
Counselor Academic Outcome
The ACA Code of Ethics (1995) emphasizes the importance of counselors maintaining competence through a commitment to specific knowledge that is pertinent to their practice. Stoltenberg's Integrated Developmental Model (Stoltenberg, McNeill, & Delworth, 1998) identified eight domains in which counseling students need to develop. Three of the domains are (a) understanding theories, (b) knowledge of self, and (c) ability to conceptualize counseling situations.
Counseling cognitive complexity, or a counselor's conceptual aptitude, is a construct that may also be valuable in the evaluation of counselors-in-training (Duys & Hedstrom, 2000). Higher levels of cognitive complexity have been associated with tolerance for discrepant points of view, ability to make informed judgments (Schroder, Driver, & Streufert, 1967), and skill in developing accurate clinical diagnoses about clients (Holloway & Wolleat, 1980). Academic measures may capture general counselor conceptual aptitudes and may, therefore, be of use as one predictor of counselor competence.
The CACREP (2001) Standards emphasize academic rigor and divide the required core curriculum into eight content areas of knowledge: human growth and development, social and cultural foundations, helping relationships, group work, career and lifestyle development, appraisal, research and program evaluation, and professional orientation. The Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE; Center for Credentialing and Education [CCE], 2005) is an instrument that measures students' knowledge in these eight areas and is similar to the National Counselor Examination, which individuals are required to complete successfully before they can become a National Board certified counselor (2005). Examining the potential relationships among GRE and GPA admission requirements and the CPCE completed by students who are finishing their counseling program could provide valuable insights...
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